Asbah to project itself a 'social' brand in the commodity market

Intertwined has recently created an outdoor campaign around the food brand's 'women's empowerment' positioning.

Asbah, a recently launched staple food brand, has positioned itself around women's empowerment and wants to be known as a mass 'social brand'.

The Indian staple foods market has players like Unilever's Annapoorna, ITC's Aashirwaad, Nature Fresh, Pilsbury, Daawat, India Gate, Rajdhani and Aahar to list out a few. Interwined, the New Delhi based agency that has created the campaign for Asbah, says that with all the large players following not only similar creative codes of swaying fields and happy dinner tables, there were similarities in packaging and marketing as well. So, for Asbah, it came up with the idea to launch a social brand targeted at women, with the focus on women's empowerment. The agency claims that it has found a space that is yet unexplored in this market.

The strategy employed was to create a 'women-for-women movement.' For every pack of Asbah sold, the company will contribute a part of the profit to educate, provide skills training and sport facilities to underprivileged women across the world. DCP, the company that owns Asbah, already supports talented girls and women, including six world class women boxers. The company also has a 'CWO' - a Chief Women's Empowerement Officer, to lead this 'movement'.

Asbah was globally launched at Gulf Foods Dubai in February this year, followed by another launch in Europe in May. In India, the brand was launched on August 15, this year. The 360-degree campaign includes a new website, digital, social media, content, radio, outdoor, print and PR. The outdoor campaign has been running across Delhi-NCR, and includes displays at metro stations.

The mandate film, which had been pushed on Facebook and YouTube, as well as PVR theatres in Delhi NCR, and features World Junior Boxing Champion Sakshi, has got over five lakh views online, while its Facebook page has over 15,000 likes in a few weeks. The website has over 700 people who have volunteered to be the ambassadors of the brand. On the radio, there is a month-long 'Women for Women' programme with Fever104fm. Women-centric magazines have also been used as a medium.